In
1664 Anna Maria married Peter
Gossner also a native of Sulzfeld.To this union at least eight known children were born between 1664 and
1682.It is their son Andreas Gossner, born 1671, through whom I am
descended.It appears that Anna Maria
lived her entire life in Sulzfeld.She
passed away in 1692 at the age of 50 years.

Direct ancestors

Additional information about the persons in our databaseas
well as a
complete

listing of individuals with this
surname may be reviewed by clicking
on this LINK.

Descendant Register

Generation 1

Anna Maria
Heidecker-1 was born on 05 Nov 1642 in
Sulzfeld, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany.She died on 24 Nov 1692 in Sulzfeld, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany. She
married Peter Gossner on 02 Feb 1664 in Sulzfeld, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany,
son of Christoph Gossner and Mrs.Christoph Gossner (nee?). He was born on 1640 in Sulzfeld,
Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany. He died on 1692 in Sulzfeld, Baden-Wurttemberg,
Germany?.

Origins of the
surname

An
Introduction to the Surname

The practice of inherited family surnames began in England and France during the late part of the 11th century.Surnames were first utilized in the Germanic region of central Europe during the second half of the 12th century.The custom of taking on surnames began in the southern areas of Germany, and gradually spread northward during
the Middle Ages.It took about three hundred years for this
tradition to apply to most families and become a constant part of one’s
identity.

With
the passing of generations and the movement of families from place to place
many of the original identifying names were altered into some of the versions
that we are familiar with today. Over
the centuries, most of our European ancestors accepted their surname as an
unchangeable part of their lives.Thus
people rarely changed their surname.Variations of most surnames were usually the result of an involuntary
act such as when a government official wrote a name phonetically or made an error in transcription.
Research into the record of thisHeideckerfamily line
indicates that the variations, meanings and history of this surname are most
likely linked to that area of Europe where German linguistic traditions are commonly found.

Source(s) & Meaning(s) of the Surname

Most modern German family names are a means conveying lineage. For the most part,German surnames were developed from
four major sources: (1)Patronymic
& Matronymic surnames most common in northern Germany are
based on a parent’s first name, such as Niklas Albrecht (Niklas son of Albrecht);(2)occupational surnames are last names based on the
person’s job or trade for example Lukas Fischer (Lukas the Fisherman); (3) descriptive surnames are based on a unique quality or
physical feature of the individual like Karl Braun (Karl with brown hair); (4) geographical surnames are derived from the location of the homestead from which the
first bearer and his family lived such as Leon Meer (Leon from by the sea), or derived from the state, region, or
village of the first bearer's origin for example Paul Cullen (Paul from Koeln/Cologne).

Heideckeris a South German and Swiss German
geographical or habitational name from any of the various places in
Germany called Heideck or from Heidegg near Zurich. Some with this surname
may have been descendants of Heidenreich (king of the heath).All of them get their names
from Middle High German heide ‘heath’ + egge, ecke ‘corner’.

Arms of
the town of Heideck

History of the Surname

Most German names have their roots in the Germanic Middle Ages. The process of forming
family names in what is present day Germany began early in the 12th Century and extended through the
16th century. Heidecker is an old Germanic name
and is one of the early names recorded in that region of Europe.Due to its popularity and duration this
name,and its variant spellings, have
traveled widely in many forms throughout the continent.The Heidecker originated in the areas of southern Germany and
northern Switzerland.Today the surname is found in the modern day German state of
Baden-Wurttemberg.The associated coat of arms for Heideck and variant spellings are registered in Germany and recorded in
Rietstap’s Armorial General.

This Germanic surname
appeared quite early into the former British
colonies of North America, especially William Penn’sProvince
of Pennsylvania.One reason
for this was that after the prince of the Electorate
of Hanover, in Germany also became king of England in 1715, as a
result German emigration to America was greatly encouraged from that time on
to about 1777.A resulting factor of
this great migration is that theHeidecker German
name tends to be confused with the English versions
due to the fact that the name from both countries is often in the same or
similar spelling, which is perhaps not surprising as they share pre 7th century
"Anglo-Saxon"
roots.Many of these German
immigrants, particularly those with easy English equivalents, were encouraged
and in some cases required to change to an English spelling.Many German surnames were re-spelled in
America because of the close relationship between the English and German
languages.This was the case with
many sea captains or their agents who, when making up the ships passenger
lists, found it easier to use a more familiar English spelling.As the general level of education in
America increased after the American Civil War many formerly illiterate immigrants
and their descendents began to standardize the spelling of their
surname.Also after the start of World War One,
Germans in the United States, in great numbers, Anglicized their
names in an effort to remove all doubt as to their patriotism.

Notable persons
having the Heidecker surname or a close variant are: Tim Heidecker (born February 3, 1976) is an
American actor, comedian, musician, writer and director. Dietmar Heidecker mayor of Dill, Germany.Martin Heidegger (September 26, 1889 –
May 26, 1976; was a Germanphilosopher known for his existential and phenomenological explorations of the "question of Being.”Johann Heinrich Heidegger
(1633, Bäretswil - 1698), Swiss theologian.John James Heidegger, (1659,
Zürich – 1749), son of Johann Heinrich Heidegger, Swiss-British noble &
theatrical entrepreneur, act in London.A listing of other prominent
persons with this surname can be found at Heidegger (surname).

More About Surname Meanings & Origins

German Surnames

First Names (Rufnamen) identified specific persons.
Over time the first name began to be applied to the bearer's whole family. At first through verbal usage, family
names (Familiennamen) were
later fixed through writing. Until
the 17th century, first
names played a more important role. The earliest family names derived from
the first name of the first bearer (Patronym). Later names derived from the
place of dwelling and location of the homestead. If a person of family migrated from one place to another they were
identified by the place they came from. Of more recent origin are names derived
from the vocation of profession of the first bearer. These names comprise
the largest group and the most easily recognizable, for they tell what the
first bearer did for a living. Another
group are names derived from a physical or other
characteristic of the first bearer. Finally,
there are names that tell you the state or region a first bearer and his
family came from; the age old division in tribes and regions (Low German, Middle German and Upper German) is often reflected in names.

Use this LINK to find the ethnic origin and meaning of last names. Surname
dictionary and

Variations
of the surname

Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have
continued to unfold and expand often leading to an overwhelming number of
variants.As such one
can encounter great variation in the spelling of surnames because in early
times, spelling in general and thus the spelling of names was not yet
standardized.Later on spellings would
change with the branching and movement of families.Spelling
variations of this family name include: Heidecker; Heideck; Heidegger; Haidegger*; Heidegg, and others.* Haidegger is the Austrian and Bavarian spelling of Heidegger.

The complexity of researching records is
compounded by the fact that in many cases an
ancestors surname may also have been misspelled.This is especially true when searching
census documents.The Soundex Indexing System was developed in an
effort to assist with identifying spelling variations for a given
surname.Soundex is a method of
indexing names in the 1880, 1900, 1910, and 1920 US Census, and can aid genealogists in
their research.Soundex Code for Heidecker is H326.Other surnames sharing this Soundex Code:HATCHER
| HEDGER
| HEIDGER
| HOUTZER
|.

Searching for
more Information about this and other surnames?

Click LINK button to view our
Surname Locator and Resources page.

Amorial
bearings, symcbols and mottoes

In the Middle Agesheraldry came
into use as a practical matter. It originated in the devices used to
distinguish the armored warriors in tournament and war, and was also placed
on seals as marks of identity. As far as records show, true heraldry began in
the middle of the 12th
century, and appeared almost simultaneously in several countries
of Western
Europe.Heraldry spread
to the German burgher class
in the 13th
century, and even some peasants used arms in the 14th century.A German coat of arms is usually referred
to by any of the following terms; Wappen, Familienwappen,
Blasonierung, Heraldik, or Wappenschablonen.

Image gallery

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Fig. 3

Fig. 4

ARMORIAL BEARINGS

The associated armorial bearings for this surnameand close
variant spellings are recorded in Burke’s
General Armorie and Reitstap’s Armorial
General. The additional
information, presented below, is offered with regard to the armorial bearings
depicted above:

FIGURE 1:
These arms show a blue shield containing a green pine branch with three pine
cones.The crest is made up of three
rushes atop a green Lambrquin.Granted
in 1836 to a Heideck of Anhalt-Dessaua principality
and later a duchy located in Germany.

FIGURE 2:This coat-of-arms
features a gold and black shield crowned with a helmet.The crest is of a woman wearing an apron
fesse of gold and sable and holding two golden arrows between a gold and a sable elephant trunks.Formerly these arma contained two helmets
one having a gold and a sable elephant trunk, the
other with a green pine cone. These arms were originally granted in 1844 to a
Baron Heideck /
Heidegger of Aargauone of the more
northerly cantons of Switzerland.

FIGURE 3:A red shield
containing a green parrot holding a golden horse-shoe in its beak. The crest
shows a parrot.Granted to a Heidegk
of Swabia,
a cultural,
historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany. Like
many cultural regions of Europe, Swabia's borders are not clearly defined.
However, today it is normally thought of as comprising the former German
state of Württemberg (with the Prussian Hohenzollern Province) and the
administrative region of Bavarian
Swabia.

FIGURE 4:Granted
to a von Heideken an untitled nobleman of Sweden. A blue shield
containing 6 gold stars topped with a helmet with mantling of gold and
blue.The crest features a golden
sword between four ostrich feathers.

MOTTO(ES)

A motto is a word or
sentence usually written upon a scroll and generally placed below the shield,
but sometimes, especially in Scotland, above the
crest. Many ancient mottoes were war-cries such as the
Douglas motto of “Forward.” Many mottoes refer to the name of the bearer, for example
“cole regem” for Coleridge.In
general most mottoes convey a sentiment, hope, or determination, such as
the Cotter motto “Dum spiro spero” where the meaning is “While I have breath
I hope“. Mottoes are often used by several successive
generations, but may be changed at any time by the grantee. The languages
most in use are Latin, French, and English.Exceptions are seen in Scotland where they are often in the old
Lowland dialect, and in Wales, often in the language of the principality.

It
is unusual to find a motto associated with the coat-of-arms of a noble German
family.As in this case no motto has
been located that is associated with the Heidecker surname and its close variant
spellings.This does not necessarily
mean that the Germanic culture is devoid of mottos.For example, the national motto of Germany
is “Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit”, meaning Unity and Justice and Freedom.The German word for motto is “Wahlspruch.”

Some of the more well known German
mottoes are as follows:Alte Wunden bluten leicht –
Old wounds readily bleed anew;Blut
und Eisen – Blood and iron;Das
beste is gut genug – The best is
good enough;Ein’ feste Burg is unser Gott – Our God is a strong tower of defense;Ewigkeit
– Eternity;Für
Gott und Iht – All for God and
her;Gott is überall – God is
over all;Gott mit uns – God is with
us;Ich dien – I serve;Krieg
– War;Mehr
Licht! – More light!;Nichts zoviel –
Nothing in excess;Prosit!
– Good luck!;Vaterland
– Fatherland;Vertrau’
auf Gott – Put your trust in God;Vorwärts!
– Forward!;Zu
dienen – At your service.

Heraldic bearings

The art of designing, displaying, describing, and recording arms is
called heraldry.
The use of coats of arms by countries, states, provinces, towns and villages
is called civic heraldry.A Coat of Arms is
defined as a group of emblems and figures
(heraldic bearings) usually arranged on and around a shield and serving as
the special insignia of some person, family, or institution.Except for a few cases, there is really no
such thing as a standard "coat of arms" for a surname.A coat of arms, more
properly called an armorial
achievement, armorial bearings
or often just arms for short,
is a design usually granted only to a single
person not to an entire family or to a particular surname.Coats of arms are inheritable property, and
they generally descend to male lineal descendents of the original arms grantee.The rules and traditions regarding Coats of
Arms vary from country to country. Therefore a Coat of Arms for an English
family would differ from that of a German family even when the surname is the
same.

Some of the more
prominent elements incorporated into acoat of arms are :

Crest - The word crest
is often mistakenly applied to a coat of arms.The crest was a later development arising
from the love of pageantry.Initially
the crest consisted of charges painted onto a ridge on top of the helmet.

Wreath or Torse – The torse is a twist of cloth or wreath underneath and part of a crest. Always shown as
six twists, the first tincture being the tincture of the field, the second
the tincture of the metal, and so on.

Mantling –The mantling is adrapery tied to the
helmet above the shield. It forms a backdrop for the shield.

Helm or Helmet -The helmet or helm is situated above the shield
and bears the torse and crest. The style of helmet displayed varies according
to rank and social status, and these styles developed over time, in step with
the development of actual military helmets.

Shield or Arms -The basis of all
coats of arms.At their simplest, arms
consist of a shield
with a plain field on which appears a geometrical shape or object.The items appearing on the shield are known
as charges.

Motto -The motto was originally a war cry,
but later mottoes often expressed some worthy sentiment.
It may appear at the top or bottom of a family coat of arms.

Searching for
more information about heraldry?Click on the button at theright to take a look at our webpage featuring
links towebsites having
images

of
a wide variety of arms, crests, and badges.They may also feature additional heraldry resources as noted in the
accompanying descriptions.

Ancestral locations

Researching
the locations where our ancestors lived has provided us
with valuable evidence needed to fill-in the gaps in our family trees.It has also led us to many interesting
facts that enhance the overall picture of each family group.

Locatiof Direct Ancestors

The names of
states and counties on the following list were derived from the known places
where the Direct Ancestors in the “Ancestral Lineage” (see above) were born,
married, and / or died.

COUNTRY

STATE

COUNTY
/ SUBDIVISION

GERMANY

Baden-Wurttemberg

Sulzfeld

Use this LINK to find out more

about the locations listed
above.

Locational distributionstors

Knowing
the geographical areas where the surname you are researching is clustered and
distributed is an indispensable tool in deciding where to focus your
research. We believe that the “Public
Profiler” and “verwandt.de” websites will open you up to a wide range of
solutions which implement current research in spatial analysis. These sites provide an array of local
spatial information tools useful to the genealogist, see links below.

The information presented below
shows where the surnameis
distributed within the United
States as well as
in Germany,the country
of origin of this family.Statistics
show that there are approximately 8.34persons per million of population with this
surname, within Germany, and2.5persons
per million within the U.S.A.Austria is found to be the country in the world where
this surname is the most highly clustered having almost 20.24 persons per million of population.

United States of America

Key

European Country of Origin

Click
on the LINK to the right to see
more information about the World
distribution of a surname.You can get

greater
detail for any of the following maps by clicking on the area, i.e state,
county that you are interested in.

Use the “verwandt.de“ LINK to find specific information about the
distribution of over one million names in Germany.A color-coded map showing all of the districts (kries) in Germany will

display the absolute distribution
ofnames in a county, as well as the
relative distribution of that name indicating how many persons there are in
proportion to the population of a county.

Wjere are my ancestors Ancestors

Resources which enhance our knowledge of the
places inhabited by our ancestors are almost as important as their names. The
LINK to the
right will take you to Maps, Gazetteers,andotherhelpfulresources

that will assist in discovering
Ancestral Locations.These web sites
comprise only a small portion of what
is available for researchers interested in learning more about where their
ancestors lived.

Migration
routes

Tracing our own family’s paths of migration can prove crucial in identifying previous generations and eventually,
figuring out where and how they arrived in the “New World” as well as
where they eventually settled.Knowing the network of trails American
pioneers traveled can help you guess where to start looking.The trail map(s) provided below may assist
you in understanding the routes that our direct ancestors of this family may
have taken to find new homes and opportunities in the vast area now
encompassed by the United States.

During the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries hundreds of thousands
of Europeans made the
perilous ocean voyage to America.For many it was an escape from economic
hardship and religious persecution.For most it was an opportunity to start over, own their own land, and
make a better future for their descendents.Immigration records show a number of people bearing the name of Heidecker,
or one of its variants, as
arriving in North America between the
17th and 20th centuries. Most of these immigrants came from Germany, where many of them originated in the
southwestern part of the country.Some
of the first settlers of this family who came to America were Veltin
Heidecker who arrived in 1732, and Johan Georg Heidecker who came to
Pennsylvania in 1742.

Use
the following links to find more early
immigrants with this surname:

Source documents

The
documents contained within this “Source Documents Archives” have been located
during our research of this family, and used as evidence to prove many of the facts contained within the
database of this family’s record.We
have source documents related to the following persons within our database
with this surname.

·

·

This Link will take
you to our

archive of source documents.

You are welcome to download
any of the documents contained within this archive that does not cite a
copyright. Should you encounter a
problem obtaining a copy you may get in touch with us via the contact
information found at the end of this web-page.

Most of these documents can be considered as primary or secondary
evidence.Primary
evidenceis usually defined as the best available to prove
the fact in question, usually in an original document or record.Secondary
evidence is in essence all that evidence which is inferior in its
origin to primary evidence. That does not mean secondary evidence is always
in error, but there is a greater chance of error.Examples of this type of evidence would be
a copy of an original record, or oral testimony of a record’s contents.Published genealogies and family histories
are also secondary evidence.

Classifying
evidence as
either primary or secondary does not tell anything about its accuracy or
ultimate value.This is especially
true of secondary evidence.Thus it is
always a good idea to ask the following questions: (1) How far removed from
the original is it, (when it is a copy)?; (2) What
was the reason for the creation of the source which contains this evidence?;
and (3) Who was responsible for creating this secondary evidence and what
interest did they have in its accuracy?

Images gallery

During our research we have
collected images and photographs that are of general interest to a particular
family.Some of them are presented on
this website because we believe they tend to provide the reader with
additional information which may aid in the understanding of our ancestors
past lives.

This Link will take
you to our

collection of family photographs.

Use the power of Google™ to find more interesting images about
this topic. This button will link you to the Google Images Searchpage.Enter thetopicyouare

searching in the box and click
“Search Images”. At the “Images” display page you will see the image,
as well as the website of which it is associated.

Web resources

This
search engine may

provide
you with additional

information
to assist with

your research about this
topic.

·Our Surname
Locator And Resources
web page contains the following: (1) links that will take you to an updated listing of
all surnames as posted in our three databases at the Rootsweb WorldConnect
Project; (2) the Surname List Finder a tool that finds
sound-alike matches for a given surname from among RootsWeb's thousands of
surname lists; (3) the Soundex Converter that can be used to find the soundex code for a surname, plus other
surnames/spellings sharing the same soundex code;(4) Surname Message Boardsthe world's largest online genealogy
community with over 17 Million posts on more than 161,000 boards; (5) Surname
Mailing Lists of all surnames having
mailing lists at RootsWeb, as well as topics that include (6) Surname
Heraldy, and(7) Mapping a
Surname.

·Your genealogy research of this surname can be facilitated by
use of Surname
Web. This
website links to the majority of the surname data on the web, as well as to
individual family trees, origin and surname meaning if known, and many other
related genealogy resources.

·Surname
Finder provides
easy access to free and commercial resources for 1,731,359 surnames. On each
surname specific "finder" page, you can search a variety of online
databases all pre-programmed with your surname.

·Use All
Surnames Genealogyto get access to find your surname resources .There are almost 1300 links in this
directory.

Free Records
& Databases

All of
the records and databases we’ve collected are FREE and can be accessed and searched online without having to pay for a
subscription.We have divided our
collected into 14 record types as follows: Biographical; Birth; Cemetery; Census & City Directories;
Church; Court; Death; Immigration & Naturalization; Land; Marriage;
Military; Newspapers; Occupational; and Tax Records.We try not to list any sites that have only
a few records for the purpose of getting you to a website that will charge a
fee to actually see the record beyond just a name.

This Link will take
you to our

collections of FREE Records.

The
following Link
will take you to our library of genealogy reference books.Here you will find bibliographies, family
histories
and books about names.In
addition, there are texts that pertain to ethnic
and religion groups, history, geography as well as
other books that will assist you with your research.